Install Tomcat 8 on Windows

This tutorial explains how to install the Apache Tomcat Java Servlet 8 on Windows 8.1 Pro. This document is not tested to work with other versions of Tomcat. For complete details, consult the specific documentation for those software installations.

Prerequisites

Please make sure the following conditions (software and version) are met before you continue.

  1. The client version of Windows 8.1 Pro. This tutorial is written based on the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 Professional.

  2. The latest security upgrades.

  3. Java 8 Framework installed. This tutorial is written based on version jre1.8.0_60 (Java Version 8 Update 60). Please refer to http://java.com/en/download/ to install JRE. This page usually will detect your operating system and gives hints to the correct version to download. Assuming Java is installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre8. (Note from tester on Windows 8.1, I tried to install Java in the C:\Program Files directory and it would not work. I had to put it in the (x86) folder).

  4. Logged in as an administrator.

Steps

1. Download Tomcat 8.x

Download the latest stable Tomcat 8 Binary Distribution Core (32-bit/64-bit Windows Service Installer) release from https://tomcat.apache.org/download-80.cgi. This should put a file of the form apache-tomcat-8.x.x.exe (or apache-tomcat-8.x.x.tar if you download with Safari) into your Downloads folder.

2. Install Tomcat 8.x

Double click the executable to start installation wizard. Do fill information to specify the connector port, Tomcat administrator login credentials without changing the Roles. If you forget to provide the credential information, you’ll have to edit the conf/tomcat-users.xml file from the Tomcat configuration directory, then restart Tomcat to flush the privileges. (Note that when testing this scenario, the default suggested connector port settings worked).

Apache Tomcat Setup Config Options

3. Run Tomcat

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.0\bin Double click the tomcat8 application.

You should see a terminal window showing logs about starting up Tomcat. When you see

INFO: Server startup in xxxx ms

That means the Tomcat is ready.

You can also run the tomcat8w application by right-clicking it and choose "run as administrator". A service setting pane will be brought up, and you can decide you’d like to run Tomcat for once or make it start up automatically every time you boot Windows 8.

You can also start Tomcat (in Windows 8.1) from the Task Manager > Services tab.

4. Test Tomcat

If Tomcat is running successfully following step 5, above, you should be able to see the Tomcat Welcome page at the following URL: http://localhost:8080/

Tomcat Welcome Page

With the admin credentials you entered during the setup wizard, you can access http://localhost:8080/manager/html where you can upload the ipt.war file to install IPT.

Tomcat Manager Page

5. Shut down Tomcat

Close the terminal windows will shut down Tomcat.

Or, if you brought up Tomcat by using tomcat8w, stop Tomcat by clicking the stop button.

Or, in Task Manager > Services tab, stop Tomcat by "right click" and selecting "stop".